Propelling mechanism.



E. A. WATSON.

PROPELLING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 22. 1914.

l 1 60,021 Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.'

E. A. WATSON.

PROPELLING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 22, x914.

1 ,1 60,021 v Patented Nov. 9,1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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EDVILLE A. wA'rsoN, 0F Non'rnwoon, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

PROPELLING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

Application filed December 22, 1914. Serial No. 878,546.

loons, aeroplanes, and aerohydroplanes or flying boats, the primary object of the inven tion beingto provide a propelling system by means of which the craft may be driven ahead or vcaused to directly ascend or descend with a desired degree of rapidity and with great facility.

A further object of the invention is to provide a propelling system including upper and lower horizontal propellers arranged above and below the body of the craft, and adapted to be independently or conjointly thrown into and out of action with each other and with a driving propeller, and which may be employed to secure or facilitate the direct ascent of the craft or its rapid descent, or to support it in a hovering attitude in the air, or to assist it in rising from a body of water.

The invention consists of the features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts herein fully described and claimed, reference-being had to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation showing the application of the invention to a flying machine of the aerohydroplane type, a portion of the adjacent pontoon being broken away to disclose the lower horizontal propeller. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the machine. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section through the same. Fig. 4 is a detail view of the gearing for driving the upper and. lower horizontal propellers. Fig. 5 is a detail view of the friction clutch for throwing the rear propeller into and out of action. Fig. '6 is a detail view of parts shown in Fig. 4 on an enlarged scale.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designator: the body of the craft, herein shown as being the body of an aerohydroplane of stream line contour and having a cock pit 2 within which are housed the driving motor 3 and the seat 4; for the aviator or pilot. body 1 carries a hydroplane base consisting of a pair of spaced pontoons or floats 5, of a buoyancy adapted to sustain the weight of the craft upon a body of water, and of a structure designed to act with a hydroplane effect or to lift the vessel for a skimming action or ascend into the air at predeter-' mined rates of driving speeds.

The shaft 6 of the motor extends rearwardly through bearing members 7 and is arranged in longitudinal alinement with a shaft 8 carrying a vertical driving propeller,

9, which as shown is arranged at the stern of the craft. To the shaft 6 is feathered a friction clutch cup or member 10 having a grooved collar 11 to receive a shipper yoke or fork 12 whereby it may be moved intoand out of engagement with a clutch member 13 fixed to the propeller shaft 8 whereby the propeller 9 may be thrown into and out of action at will and its speed to a certain degree controlled, as will be, readily understood.

Extending upwardly from the body 1 is a, bearing sleeve l l-reinforc'ed-by suitable This braces 15, and extending downwardly from the body is a similar bearing sleeve 16, likewise reinforced by suitable braces 17. Journaled in and extending through said sleeves are shafts 18 and 19, ,the,. shaft 18 being provided at its upper end with a horizontal lifting propeller 20 and the shaft 19 being provided at its lower end with a horizontal lifting propeller 21, said propeller 21 being disposed intermediately between the floats 5 and projecting partially below the level of,

the bottom surfaces of said floats.

Fixed to the shaft 6 is a beveled 'drive' gear upon and rotate with the shafts-18 and 19. I

The said gears 23 and 24 are provided with annular grooved hubs or collars to receive pivoted shipper levers 25 and 26, which are connected for movement in unison by a link 27, whereby the gears 23. and 24 may be simultaneously moved. toward each other or spread apart and thrown into and out of mesh with the gear 22.

, The lever 12 is attached to a controllinglever28' through the medium of a link 29,

while the lever 26 is attached to a control ling lever 30 by a connecting link31, the

I in

said levers 28 and 30 being arranged in proximity to the aviators seatso'that the friction clutch and sliding gears may be. independently or simultaneously adjusted-by the aviator or pilot. g

It will be understood that-by means of the lever 28 the aviator may throw the clutch members 10 and 13into and out of frictional engagement to throw the propeller 9 into and out of operation for the purpose of propelling the craft ahead or not, as conditions require. It will also be evident that by means of the lever 30 the aviator or pilot,

may throw the propellers 20 and 21 into or out of action, and by throttling the motor or otherwise may control the speed of said propellers.

As a means for controlling the propellers to enable the propeller 21 to be thrown out of-gear without interfering with the propeller 20, I may arrange the pivot pin 32 on the lever 26 to fit within a slot 33 in the adjacent end of the lever 27, so as to both pivotally and slidably engage said lever, and upon the lever 27 I may provide a hooked latch 34 to engage the headed pin 32, whereby the lovers 26 and 27 are normally coupled together to maintain the gears 23' and 24 in meshingengagement with the gear 22. When the parts are in this position it is evident that both propellers 20 and 21 will be operated from the shaft 6 through the gearing above described, but by. releasing the latch 34 from engagement with the pin 32 it will be observed that the lever 26 may be operated without affecting the lever 27 or gear 23, so that the gear member 24 may be retracted to throw the propeller 21 out of action while the propeller 20 remains in action. By returning the gear 24 to normal position and reengaging the latch 34 with the pin 32 it will be evident that the gears 23 and 24 will be again coupled for relative adjustment toward and from each other so that they may be simultaneously thrown into and out of operation. The latch 34 is provided with a crank arm which is coupledby a link 35 with a swinging arm 36 loosely pivoted to the lever 26 or some fixed part of the machine, andwhich is in turn connected by a rod or link 37 with a control lever 38 by which the latch device may be conveniently operated. I

The propeller 20 is strictly-of an aerial type and has its blades arranged to present an angle of incidence for a lifting action on adapted for both air and water use to secure a liftingaction.

The propeller 20 is preferably provided with but a single pair of blades, While the propeller 21 is provided with three or more blades of proper contour. When the propellers 20 and 21 are thrown into action the craft will be lifted bodily from the ground 'or the surface of a body of water for direct v a cent and its speed of ascent may be governed by regulating the speed of said propellers, and by the action of these propellers thezvessel may be supported in the air in a hovering attitude or caused todescend in a direct path in which its speed of' descent is.

controlled by -the action of the propellers. By reversing'the motor orusing a reversing gear, the propellers 20 and 21 may be utilized to cause the machine to drop or descend suddenly in. order to avert collision or avoid impending danger. Furthermore, the propeller 21 may be operated when the craft is traveling upon the surface of a body of water to act by impingement on the water to liftthe vessel into the air or to decrease its displacement so that it may skim with greater facility while being properly buoyed or supported, a feature of special valuein the travel of the craft in extremely shallow Water.

By means of the latch mechanism couscribed arrangement and modef'of driving the propellers 20 and 21 will be readily understood.

I claim 1. In a propelling mechanism for air and marine craft, a motor, a drive shaft actuated by the motor, a pair of alined propeller shafts on opposite sides of the drive shaft, a drive gear on the drive shaft, gears feathered to slide upon and rotate with the propeller shafts and movable into andout of engagement with the drive gear, shipper levers for adjusting said gears on the pro-.

peller shafts, means for adjusting one of said levers, a stud upon one ofthe levers, a link having a slotted end engaging said stud and pivotally connected at its opposite end to the other lever, a latch device upon the slotted end of the link to engage said stud, and means for throwing said latch device into and out of engagement with the stud.

2. In a propelling mechanism for air and marine craft, the combination of a vehicle upper and lower alined vertical shafts, an

aerial lifting propeller upon the upper shaft,

a combined aerial and marine lifting pro- 5 peller upon the lower shaft and having its blades projecting partially below the acting portion of the hydroplane base, gearing for driving said propellers from the motor, and

means for throwing out of action.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses. v EDVILLE A. WATSON,

Witnesses:

L. F. BARKER, CLARK A. HALL.

said gearing into and 

